


Blade of Evil's Bane

by Aurya



Series: A Breath of Wilderness [11]
Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Female Link, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-06 08:07:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21223328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aurya/pseuds/Aurya
Summary: Deep in a mysterious forest lies a sword with the power to repel evil... waiting for her master to return.





	Blade of Evil's Bane

**Author's Note:**

> Motherfricker, Draco just pointed out to me. Rupees can be found in the damnedest places in Hyrule because the Minish put them there. But you can't find Rupees lying around anywhere in Breath of the Wild. Calamity Ganon KILLED OFF THE MINISH. Holy shit. Keep that in mind for the sequel.
> 
> So, on further contemplation, I don't think I'm gonna do the labyrinth shrines. I don't think I can make a single person walking through a maze appealing to read. And the Master Sword's quest is pretty straight-forward, there's no real need to divide it into chapters. Which means, if I can't work up the courage to do Eventide Island properly, this is going to be the last entry before we go into Hyrule Castle for the finale.
> 
> I feel like they oversimplified the sword-drawing test for some reason. I'm gonna do a different take on that trial. Let me know what you think of it.
> 
> Also, I wrote everything leading up to the first touch before I played. Thought there were Forest Dweller's Shields elsewhere than in Korok Forest. Turned out to be mistaken, according to Draco's notes. Anybody got anything to prove him wrong so I can lord it over him?
> 
> Link's equipment inventory at the start of this chapter [currently equipped]:  
-[Forest Dweller's Spear]  
-Forest Dweller's Sword  
-Forest Dweller's Bow  
-[Arrow ×85]  
-Forest Dweller's Shield  
-[Champion's Tunic]  
-Hylian Hood  
-Hylian Trousers  
(assorted armour which varies depending on the order you are reading this series, and will not be relevant to this fic)

"Great. Awesome. Thanks so much."

Link started to climb the tower north of Woodland Stable, grumbling as she departed her ice. She'd been halfway on the approach when a Bokoblin archer had noticed her, and the ensuing scuffle with almost every creature surrounding the pool in which the tower lay had eaten up every mote of metal she had - swords and shields had broken on the blins that covered the shores and structures, and she'd just shattered her last metal bow on a Lizalfos that had been lurking in the water. She didn't have anything in reserve but wooden gear of some rather strange make, and she was hoping that she wouldn't get the attention of that Fire Wizzrobe she'd noticed nearby before she found something less flammable.

As she reached the top of the tower, she discovered that this one had risen from beneath one of the giant skulls Bokoblins used as hideouts. "So much for an idyllic view," she muttered, stepping up to the pedestal and setting her slate into it.

**Sheikah Tower activated.**

While the tower was lighting up, Link made her way to one of the skull's eye sockets; she managed to climb in safely, peering over the area. The sun was halfway over the horizon as she seized the rim of the gap, looking around; the tree-lined road that she had followed to get near the tower continued into a vast forest, one that seemed oddly dense with fog.

**Scanning area...**

Link's gaze narrowed. She'd heard a good few stories while she'd been travelling - about a legendary sword that the Hylian Champion was rumoured to have carried, with the power to seal the darkness of Calamity Ganon, said to have been laid to rest in a wood that turned away all who tried to traverse its depths.

**Regional map extracted.**

She pulled back into the skull and hopped down to the tower platform, reclaiming her Sheikah Slate from the pedestal as she did.

* * *

"So this is the Great Hyrule Forest..."

The fog seemed a lot denser from a distance than it really was; as Link stepped into the forest, she could still see a good distance away, even in a direction other than that of the torch nearby. Yet it was a lot darker than she expected; the sun had yet to vanish beyond the horizon when she stepped in, but no sunlight shone into the wood. As she stepped in, she drew off her Sheikah Slate, disabling the Sheikah Sensor; she didn't want it to go off detecting a shrine and get her lost in here.

There was a brick archway between her and the torch, like some kind of marker, and when she passed through it, she felt a strange familiarity; for a reason she could not discern, she turned to look right, and found another torch a good dozen paces away, and another beyond it.

Link narrowed her gaze. "What is this place?"

She started towards the second torch, and passed it when she found nothing of note around it. As she reached the third, she looked left, and found two more torches ahead of her; when she passed the fourth and approached the fifth, she looked left again, and found yet another standing there. When she approached the sixth, she turned unbidden to her right; yet she could not see any other torches. After a long moment, she elected to start in that direction all the same - and sure enough, there were indeed two torches standing there.

And behind them was a thick tree, whose bark was gnarled into a monstrous face.

Link came to a halt before the tree. "What am I doing?" she murmured. Her gaze fell. "_What_ am I _doing?_ They're stories - stories so old they've been warped and people think I'm supposed to be a man! I'm in the middle of a forest I don't know, surrounded by fog, following urges from Hylia-knows-what, the trees are so dense my Sheikah Slate can't see the path, there are torches in here that are _lit_ and I don't know who lit them, everything I have on me is _flammable_..."

A whisper - a girl's voice, carried on the wind - caught her ears. The words were in no Hyrulean tongue; yet she somehow felt the utterings were no more foreign than her own. They had faded by the time they reached her, and Link turned in the direction they had come from.

"Who's... speaking?"

Warily, Link drew her spear, keeping both hands closed tight upon it as she started in that direction. The ogre trees lined her path - from where she knew that name for these growths, she couldn't be certain - and as she passed by one she could have sworn the fog seemed to grow denser, and she promptly stepped back until it thinned out once more.

The voice seemed to come from a different direction now; Link started towards it, spear held firmer now. As she stepped forward, something started to approach from nearby; she quickly turned her weapon and thrust it forward, impaling it in a fox that had borne the ill fortune to cross her while she was on her guard.

Link sucked in a heavy breath and made to follow the voice again. After a moment, the trees seemed to thin, and she found herself approaching a small canyon-esque formation of stone. A descending slope took her through the canyon, and the fog started to thin around her; yet the wood seemed to be draped in a gentle green glow, despite the fact that she knew the sun should have set by now.

She set the spear upon her back again as she passed through a massive, hollow log; for a moment she thought she felt gazes upon her, but when she glanced around she appeared to be alone. The voices whispers urged her to keep going; there seemed to be a path worn into the underbrush, and after a moment she saw a stream of light upon a strange formation.

A massive triangle of stone lay in the center of the wood - and rising from it was a gleaming blue figure.

"Is that... the sword that seals the darkness?"

It was at least a sword, if nothing else - and it was a beautiful sword, at that. A double-edged blade, long enough to offer excellent strength but small enough to be carried one-handed; it was set into a small pedestal that rose from the center of that formation. The handle was bound in black, and both pommel and hilt were a stunning skyward blue; the hilt was fashioned in what looked like wings, and a golden jewel rested in its center, at the point from which the stunning white blade emerged. An unsharpened ricasso, nearly half the length of the handle, arced outward to broaden the blade at the point its sharpened edge began; the edge did not taper to a point but arced into it at the tip. The blade bore no fuller, but just at the edge of the ricasso was imprinted an image of three triangles.

The mark of the gods.

Uncertain, Link's grip relaxed on her spear, and she set it down as she stepped up towards the pedestal. The girl's voice seemed to whisper in her ears, and though she did not recognize the words, she could feel their gentle urging, and her left hand reached forward to touch the sword.

* * *

_Quiet theories on the Rauru Hillside._

_Uncertain prayers at the Sacred Grounds._

_The bloom of a silent princess._

_Desperate hopes at Sanadin Park._

_A threatening approach upon Blatchery Plain._

_Defiance in the face of demise._

_A face hiding tears, knowing she was not allowed the comfort of her own sorrow._

_And the Calamity swirling about Hyrule Castle, before lunging forward..._

* * *

Link recoiled from the sword impaled upon the pedestal as though it had been inflamed; the images turning through her head gave her terror she could not place, and she reached a hand to her forehead.

_What... did I just see?_

Sounds of stirring, and then a mild yawn, as though someone had just awoken - but the voice was _large_, in a way she could not place. It was much unlike the strange whispers she had heard on her way here; Link raised her gaze towards the source, and found the face of the largest tree in the forest was _moving_.

"Who is that...? Did I doze off again?"

Link opened her mouth, but words refused to form; her jaw remained hanging, uncertain as she witnessed what was happening before her.

The tree's eyes seemed to blink, just lightly. "Well, well... It's you. You finally decided to return." Recognition from someone she did not recognize was something Link was getting used to, but this was an entirely new experience. "Better late than never. After one hundred years, I'd nearly given up hope of seeing you again. Even my patience has limits, you know..." Then his gaze narrowed. "The look on your face tells me that you have no recollection of me, however."

"I..." Link found her voice. "I'm talking to a giant ogre tree?"

A brief chuckle from the tree before her. "I have watched over Hyrule since time immemorial," he declared. "Many have referred to me over the ages as the Deku Tree."

"Deku Tree?" Link's gaze fell to the sword. "Is this sword...?"

"That is the weapon created by the ancient Goddess," the Deku Tree declared. "The sword that seals the darkness - that only the chosen knight can wield against the Calamity Ganon." His face shifted to beckon to Link, as a Hylian's might when their hands were full. "Believe it or not... it was actually you who wielded that sword one hundred years ago. If you have returned to this place, then I trust you are prepared to wield that sword once again.

"But I must warn you to take extreme caution. The sword stands as a test anyone who would dare attempt to possess it. As you are now, I cannot say whether you are worthy or not...

Link closed her eyes. "I drew this sword once before," she murmured, and she was certain of the words as soon as they left her lips. "I know this forest. I know this sword. If she decided I was worthy of it then, why wouldn't I be worthy of it now?"

There was a long moment of quiet in the forest.

The Hylian Champion raised her gaze to the Deku Tree. "...Will it hurt?"

"When the sword was returned here," the Deku Tree observed, "she had endured as much as you had endured before you were placed in your slumber. But harm to a spirit is far greater than harm to a warrior. If she has yet to recover from her wounds, she will share her pain with you before she allows you to draw it. If her suffering is still so great as to be beyond your strength of body... you would lose your life where you stand."

Those words seemed to press down on Link as she returned her gaze to the sword - to the jewel upon its hilt.

"Should you mean to carry the sword that seals the darkness into the fight against Calamity Ganon..."

"...then the fate of Hyrule rests on whether I had the patience to let her sleep," Link murmured.

The Deku Tree chuckled weakly. "Best of luck, young one."

A long moment of hesitation. The girl's voice seemed to whisper in her ears, and though she did not recognize the words, she could feel their gentle urging; Link took a deep breath, and then let it out.

"Show me your scars," she whispered, "and I'll make them go away."

She reached her hand out and closed her grip on the sword's handle; then she made to draw it out.

Pain.

Sudden, unforseen pain wrought her, and she nearly collapsed against the sword. Her foot thrust forward, landing beside the blade, and the whispering voice seemed to take on a tone of wariness; even so, she reaffirmed her grip and put all of her strength into pulling the weapon from its pedestal. Slowly, it seemed to rise - yet with every mote of give it offered, the pain of a hundred wounds seemed to course over her body.

Her pulse raced.

Her breath drew heavy.

Her vision clouded.

And she could have sworn she felt the otherworld reaching towards her when a sudden jolt brushed it all away. The voice went silent, and with a surge of motion she lifted the sword from its resting place.

The forest seemed to go deathly quiet as she held the sword between her hands. Slowly, she turned the blade, grasping it firmly in her right hand; she held the weapon before her face, and then raised it skyward.

* * *

_"Your master will come for you. Until then, you shall rest safely here."_

_The sword lay upon the pedestal - its one-shining surface caked in blood and earth, its holy edge chipped from striking the ancient automatons that roamed outside the forest's bounds. Princess Zelda knelt before it, garbed in a white dress that was stained with the same; her hands were closed before her in prayer. "Though the Slumber of Restoration will most certainly deprive her of her memories... please trust me when I say that I know she will arrive before you yet again."_

_The voice of the Deku Tree echoed around her, and she rose to her feet as he spoke. "If I may be so bold... what is it that you are planning to do next, Princess?"_

_She let her gaze fall to the weapon. "The Master Sword... I heard it speak to me." Then, to the Deku Tree; "I seems that my role is unfinished. There is still something I must do."_

_The Deku Tree seemed to close his eyes. "I sense there is great strength in your dedication."_

_Zelda closed her eyes. "Great Deku Tree, I ask of you... when she returns, can you please relay this message? Tell her that I-"_

_"Now then." The Deku Tree's interruption was followed with utmost faith. "Words intended for her would sound much... better... in the tones of your voice, don't you think?"_

_A small, sad smile rose on Zelda's expression. "...Yes."_

_The princess seized the sword between two hands, raised the weapon above the pedestal, and took a deep breath; then she lowered it to that opening, and a shining light emerged from the weapon as it came to rest once again._

_And that light would continue to bathe it, hoping to unmake the wounds she had suffered, for a century hence._

* * *

Link took a deep breath as the images parted, lowering the sacred weapon once again; then she brought it into an outward swing to the right, an inward swing to the left, and then a hard outward swing once more.

As she relaxed her stance, the Deku Tree spoke once again. "What you just saw happened where you stand one hundred years ago. After you were separated from the sword, the princess thought to bring it here, where she knew that it would be safe under my watch. She continues to fight, trapped deep within the confines of Hyrule Castle. Her heart cascades with faith that you will return."

"I refuse let that faith go unrewarded," Link vowed.

"And the world will be all the richer for it," the Deku Tree proclaimed. "She has a smile like the sun... I would do much to feel its warmth upon me once again."

Link's gaze went back to the sword, and her grasp upon it tightened.

And the golden jewel glowed with a faint blue light, and she heard that voice whisper to her once more.

**Author's Note:**

> After several saves and resets, it turns out the Deku Tree has multiple different comments for when you abort the sword-draw without his interruption. If you're hurt, he tells you to heal up first. If you've got insufficient hearts, he comments that you lack the strength. If you have sufficient hearts and you're not hurt, he assures you of your ability. If you go for it and then abandon without trying, he cracks a joke about your lack of determination.
> 
> So, there's several different types of acquisition fanfare in Breath of the Wild. There's the seven-note jingle that plays when you pick up a weapon for the first time or get something common from a chest. There's the five-note tune that plays when you get certain unique bits like the Zora series or the Thunder Helm. And then there's the dramatic orchestration of the classic four-note "da na na na!" that plays for certain big-name items.
> 
> Every item with the four-note pisses me off for a different reason.  
-The Master Sword has had its own tune for the drawing of the blade since it first existed in A Link to the Past. I'm fairly certain that that tune has played in every game the weapon is drawn except maybe the Oracle series. In Twilight Princess, it was just added to your inventory without a text box after that cinematic. It should have gotten the same treatment here. It's already force-equipped after the drawing.  
-The Hylian Shield does not have its own unique item slot in your inventory. Okay, yes, it can break, and you need replacements. But the Master Sword can break, and while it's recharging it has its own indicator. When the Hylian Shield breaks, have an indicator saying you need a new one. (Also, it should defend against electricity as well as fire, but I think that's just a system limitation because there would be no excuse for lightning not homing in on it.)  
-The Bow of Light can only be accessed during the final battle with Dark Beast Ganon. This is despite the fact that the game saves after you've defeated Dark Beast Ganon once, giving you an indicator and upping the stats on all the shrine chests. It should still be in your inventory. Is it because of the bestowing scene? Have it descend directly to Link before he mounts his horse and have it auto-equip if he already has it like the Master Sword before Calamity Ganon.  
-Why the hell does the paraglider get the same melody as the holy three?


End file.
